Girl Power
by Nylah
Summary: One shot. A missing Danny leads to a confrontation between Sam and Valerie.


A/N: Written for _E-Dantes_ because she wanted a story to go with the picture she drew: http : // e-dantes . deviantart . com / art / Girls-Power-122691877 (remove the spaces).

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

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GIRL POWER

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Two days.

Nervously glancing at the clock hanging above the door, Sam tried to listen to the monotone voice of Mr Lancer, holding a particularly long lecture on symbolism in 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles', which book she had found enjoyable until they had started dissecting it. Even so, she would have been paying attention, if it weren't for the empty seat next to her.

Behind her, Tucker poked her back with a pencil, but she ignored him. When his poking became incessant, she quickly looked over her shoulder and glared. Tucker grimaced, but then nodded in the direction of Valerie, sitting in the back of the classroom like they were, but on the other side. She sat perfectly straight, her arms leaning on her desk, eyes wide open, as if in rapt attention. But the glazed expression in her eyes – an expression Sam knew well, having seen it often enough in Danny when he was trying to stay awake during class – told a different story. Valerie was tired. Beyond tired. Exhausted.

Sam shrugged. Valerie was tired. So what. Served her right, now she knew what Amity Park was like without Danny Phantom to catch all the wayward ghosts. And Danny was highly efficient. He had to be, or he wouldn't get any sleep at all. But Valerie, even with her skill, had to work at it, had to chase even the weakest ghost with all her might to catch it. She couldn't go where the ghosts went, couldn't go intangible to pass through walls. Catching ghosts took a ghost. Or something similar, like a half-ghost. A half ghost who was missing.

Two days.

Sam looked at the clock again, and then at the door. She kept expecting him to walk right in, smiling that goofy smile of his, act like nothing happened, like he hadn't scared her witless with his disappearing act. He'd take the lecture of Mr Lancer looking contrite, he'd apologize profusely and then grudgingly show up in detention for the rest of the week. And she'd glare at him, and hit him after school, and he'd cringe under her wrath and grovel for a few days in saying he was sorry, and then she could gracefully forgive him.

That was the plan. That was how it worked, how it had always worked. The plan had only one flaw though. In order to execute it, Danny needed to be there. And he wasn't. Three days ago, he disappeared... well, not exactly disappeared, not at first, he just stopped showing up in school. There had been an outbreak of ghosts, they were swarming the city and he had been on a non-stop ghost hunt. Sam and Tucker had covered for him, which wasn't hard since his parents had left town for a few days for a ghost convention in Wisconsin.

Danny had been his confident, cocky self during the fights, not only annoying the hell out of the ghosts but also Sam and, to a lesser extent, Tucker. Whenever he was in ghost form for an extended period of time, he seemed to loose some of his human modesty and shyness. And Sam couldn't slap him for it because he was almost constantly high up in the sky – to Paulina's delight – searching for ghosts. So he really really needed to come down. Here. Right now. Into this classroom.

Two days ago he disappeared.

They didn't know what had happened to him. He had been there in the middle of the night. Sam had seen him, looking out of her window, and he had even waved at her. She couldn't see his face, but she was sure his glowing green eyes had sparkled. He didn't need sleep, not while in ghost form, and although it would come back to haunt him when he eventually changed back, it came in handy now. She also knew where he got his energy from to keep going, and that was what had her worried.

Danny always denied actually _liking_ feeding off of people's emotions. But she had seen the delighted grin on his face while swooping over a crowd of scared people running away from a fight, the way he sometimes lingered after a ghost had been captures and people started emerging, relief on their faces, the way his eyes glazed when he had tormented Dash, driving the annoying jock almost insane with anger from one of his ghostly pranks.

Too long in his ghost form was not good for him. And Sam was starting to seriously doubt the wisdom of keeping Danny's disappearance quiet. He didn't like her nagging about his prolonged ghostly self, and had taken to avoiding her whenever he did that.

He wouldn't actually stay away from her for two days though. Would he?

The sound of the bell shook her out of her contemplations. She looked at her notebook in surprise, seeing for the first time what she had been doodling. Eyes. Ghostly eyes, half obscured by strands of messy white hair. She grimaced, and then looked over her shoulder to see if Tucker had seen what she had drawn. He was too busy with his PDA though.

Sighing, she got up, bent over to get her purple spider backpack and then straightened again to dump her things in it. She was just about to reach and grab her notebook when somebody beat her to it.

"What's this?"

Annoyed, Sam glared at Paulina, who was holding up the notebook for all to see. Several girls of Paulina's entourage stopped what they were doing and gathered around her, giggling. Sam felt like gagging.

"Give me that," she said, trying to sound bored.

"I don't think so," Paulina said, "Who knew you of all people has a crush on Phantom?"

"I don't have a crush on Phantom," Sam said, "And don't you have something better to do than annoying me? Like, sitting in a corner and giggle over pink ribbons or something?"

She moved to snatch the notebook out of Paulina's hand, but the pretty hispanic girl stepped back and held it high. Sam growled and clenched her fists. She was just about to simply strike out and kick Paulina in the shins – the way she usually got what she wanted – when somebody grabbed the notebook out of her hands from behind. Paulina shrieked, turned and turned her attention to the dark skinned girl now holding the notebook, staring at it with interest.

"Valerie," Paulina said angrily, "Just who do you think you are!"

Valerie looked up and raised her eyebrows. "Well," she said, "I think I'm Valerie Gray. I could be wrong, of course."

She looked at the drawing, and to Sam's dismay for a brief moment an expression of deep satisfaction washed over her face. Then it was gone, and she handed the notebook back to Sam, who quickly flipped it closed and put it in her bag.

"Pine over him all you want," Valerie said, walking back to grab her own bag, "He won't be bothering us again."

Stunned, Sam stared at the retreating back of the Red Huntress.

* * *

"I'm telling you, it's her!" Sam said to Tucker, "She knows something! She knows where he is! I bet she..."

"Come on, Sam, based on what?" Tucker said, trailing after his friend, "She's always boasting about beating Danny, but you know she can't really beat him?"

"Hush!" Sam said.

She grabbed Tucker and dragged him behind some dumpsters. In the distance, at the end of the street, Valerie was looking back over her shoulder, before continuing on. Sam kept a firm hold on Tucker's arm until she disappeared from sight. Then she dragged him away from the dumpster and ran to the corner to see where Valerie had gone, just in time to see her enter a rather decrepit looking apartment building. She stared after her for a moment, and then turned back to Tucker.

"Look, I know you have a crush on her, but would you stop defending her? She's dangerous!"

"I do not have a crush on her," Tucker said indignantly, "That was a long time a go. And besides, she likes Danny. But I do think you're jumping to conclusions."

"No I don't. She's up to something. And I'm out of options, Tucker. We've looked everywhere, all his usual hideouts, even interrogated the Box Ghost. Nobody has seen him. And his parents come home tonight."

Tucker looked at her, an odd look on his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but Sam silenced him.

"Don't you dare say that."

Tucker closed his mouth, but the worried frown on his face remained firmly in place. It wasn't unusual for Danny to disappear for a while, but never longer than a day, and certainly not two days. The first time he had done that was almost a year ago, and he had simply gone into the ghost zone and 'forgot time', while his friends and family had been freaking out. He had walked in the front door of his house when his mother was just picking up the phone to call the police.

It earned him a grounding of a month, which he had shrugged away. It wasn't like they could keep him in anyway. His parents had reacted with exasperation to his indifference, but hadn't known what else to do. Sam had smacked him for it, the next day in school, saying that if he kept that up, his parents would try for more rigorous solutions.

"Don't you get it Danny?" Sam had asked him, "Your parents think you're some sort of troubled youth. They might send you to one of those really strict boarding schools to straighten you out!"

Danny had grimaced, and then shrugged. "Better they think that than that they know I'm a ghost," he had said, "Besides, it's not like they could afford something like that."

"No," Sam had pointed out, "But Vlad could. And you know he would."

That had sufficiently silenced Danny, and Sam had seen him pondering that thought the whole day. It had made him clean up his act a little, and things had sort of continued smoothly until the next time he disappeared. In the end, they had all gotten semi-used to his disappearing acts. But two days...

"You know this is where she lives, Sam. She just went home. Nothing to it. Come on, I bet Danny's home, playing video games."

Sam looked up, scanning the windows of the building in front of her, but couldn't make out anything. She sighed. Tucker was probably right. Danny was rash and not always thinking straight, but he wasn't stupid. He knew he had to be home tonight, or he'd be in serious trouble. And so would they, Sam realized, for having kept Danny's absence quiet. She shifted uncomfortably.

"You know, you go check his house," she said, "I'll just hang around here for a little while longer. I'll see you at the Nasty Burger, OK?"

Tucker nodded, putting away his PDA. "Still not answering his phone," he nodded, "But I'll check. See you later, Sam."

Sam watched him go down the street for a moment, before turning her gaze back at the entrance to the apartment building Valerie obviously lived in, doubt now in her mind. Sure, Valerie still hunted Phantom, even after two years, but Danny had always evaded her with ease, even in the beginning, before his powers had started growing. There was no way she had beaten him, captured him maybe, or even... No. Not going there.

Sam blinked, and with some effort turned her thoughts to a more productive subject, the tongue lashing she was going to give Danny when he indeed was playing video games in his room while forgetting to charge his phone, which had the annoying habit to die in the ghost zone for lack of signal.

She shivered. The ghost zone, although beautiful in a gothic way, also crept her out. And the fact that Danny spent more and more time there worried her. He _was_ getting more ghostly...

The slamming of a door had her look up, just in time to see Valerie quickly disappear around the corner at the other end of the street. Cursing herself softly for her inattentiveness, Sam ran to catch up. Valerie weaved her way through the neighborhood, keeping a brisk pace, and Sam found herself grateful for the good shape she herself was in, and the fact that Tucker wasn't with her. He would have seriously slowed her down.

At long last, Valerie stopped in front of what looked like an abandoned warehouse. She looked up and down the street, and Sam retreated into an alley, hoping Valerie hadn't seen her. She obviously hadn't, because she quickly pushed open the old door and entered the building. Before the door was completely closed, Sam was already on the move. She rushed towards the building and then proceeded in, by carefully pushing the door open just like Valerie had done. Once inside, she stopped and listened.

At first, all was quiet. The only things Sam heard was the sound of cars go by outside, a hammering sound coming from the building next door and children screaming somewhere down the street. She looked around. The building really was abandoned, and in a bad shape. Wooden planks on the floor, some of them looking rotten. Some rubble in the corner, as if somebody had torn down a wall but had left the remains. Broken windows, weeds growing through cracks in the wall and the floor... and a staircase in the back.

Footsteps above her head. Sam started and looked up. A small trickle of dust came from the ceiling.

Curiosity had her now, and she quickly, as quietly as possible, made her way to the stairs on the other end of the building. She ascended them slowly then, trying to stay close to the wall to avoid cracking steps as much as possible. Almost at the top she stopped and carefully peaked into the room upstairs, sticking her head out from the hole where the stairs were.

On the other end of the room, sitting cross legged on the floor, Valerie. In full Red Huntress outfit, with her helmet off. Several weapons laid on the floor in front of her, and she was carefully arranging them, muttering to herself.

Other than the few crates by the wall, the place was completely empty. Sunlight filtered through the boarded up window at the front of the building, reflecting on a particularly large bazooka-like weapon. Next to it small cubes, of the exploding kind Sam had seen Valerie throw at Danny. And next to that, a thermos.

Sam stared at it, the rest of the objects laying in front of Valerie and, in fact, Valerie herself forgotten. It looked just like a Fenton thermos, except it was red. It had a small, blinking red light on it, and the lid seemed to be firmly closed.

There was no way Sam could know, no way she would even suspect something. It was just a thermos. Valerie had never used it on Danny, had always been more bent on destroying him than capturing him, and besides that had never been able to get close enough to use it. But it was standing there, right in front of the girl in the red suit, who was on her knees in front of it, quietly disassembling a smaller handgun.

Her heart started pounding. Resisting the urge to slap her hand in front of her mouth, Sam crept out of the hole in the floor and slipped behind the crates. Once there, crouched, she peered around the corner again. An empty stretch of floor, right in front of her. Wooden planks, no doubt old and squeaky. Valerie, half turned away from her, facing the window. Sam couldn't see her face.

Maybe, if she stayed close to the wall, she would be able to approach without alerting Valerie to her presence. And then, when she was close enough, she could... what? Grab the thermos and make a run for it? Not a chance. Grab Valerie?

Sam pondered that thought. She had heard Danny say Valerie had a black belt, but was that really true? She looked at the girl. Yes, probably. In which case she stood no chance against her. Better not fight Valerie directly. What she needed to do was get a hold of the thermos, free Danny and let him handle things.

Assuming he was in there in the first place.

Slowly, Sam stood up. Mouth dry, she eased around the crate and flattened her back against the wall, which scraped uncomfortably against he back. She was now in plain view of Valerie, should she look over her shoulder. She seemed to be engrossed in her gun-cleaning though, so Sam, with a little more confidence, started moving towards the girl, placing her feet carefully and testing the floor before putting her weight on it. The going was slow, excruciatingly so, but she was getting closer. Smiling a little at the thought of Danny going insane if he ever would have to do this, Sam just kept going, her eyes firmly set on the red thermos.

She was almost there when it happened. Just when she had decided to leave the wall and step forward, thinking about the position she had to jump from, her phone started playing 'Clocks', signifying Tucker was calling her. Sam froze. Valerie stiffened, then turned around and jumped up. They stared at each other. Then, a little desperately, Sam's eyes slid to the thermos, now behind Valerie.

"Sam! What the hell are you doing here?" Valerie exclaimed. Then, almost immediately, she calmed down again. "OK," she said, "You caught me. How did you find me?"

Sam tore her eyes away from the thermos. "Uh," she said, unable to come up with a snarky retort, "I just... happened to pass by. And then... went in here and... here you are."

She winced. That sounded extremely lame. And completely unbelievable. Valerie seemed to think so too, because she snorted.

"Yeah, right."

They stared at each other again, both of them unable to come up with something to say. Then Sam mentally kicked herself. She had to come up with something, lure Valerie away from the thermos and her weapons. She looked around.

"So," she said, "Um. So this is your... hideout?"

Valerie looked uncomfortable. "Look," she said, "I'm... storing my stuff here because... my father isn't supposed to know. I mean, he knows, but he doesn't know... You know."

Sam blinked at Valerie's somewhat incoherent rambling. What did she mean, that her father did know about her ghost hunting – which was a little hard to miss –, but not where she stored her stuff? Again, her eyes slid to the thermos. This time, Valerie noticed. She looked over her shoulder to see what Sam was looking at, and then jerked her head back.

"Wait a minute...," she said, "You're after _him_."

If Sam had any doubts Danny was in the thermos, they were now gone. And so were her chances of grabbing the thing while Valerie was off guard. With a sinking feeling she realized Valerie wasn't going to give up the thermos without a fight. Her eyes shot back to Valerie, blinking nervously.

Valerie moved her feet a little, and brought up her hands. Her eyes were burning ferociously, and Sam found herself backing away a little. There was no way she could take on Valerie, was there?

Valerie seemed to think so too, because she grinned at Sam. "You and Tucker. You always protect Phantom, don't you. You're just like Paulina, pining after the 'pretty ghost boy'. Newsflash, Sam, he's a _ghost_. He's _dangerous_. And you can't date a ghost."

Sam cleared her throat, thinking furiously. As soon as she had realized she was backing away from Valerie, she had stopped moving. Valerie seemed to think she could scare Sam of with one of her karate stances. Maybe, just maybe, she was a little over confident. Maybe Sam could surprise her still, if she played it right.

"I'm not like Paulina!" she said indignantly, "I'm not fawning over the ghost boy."

She thought about fawning over Danny for a moment, and almost blushed. Good thing mind reading wasn't one of his powers. Yet. Slowly, she shifted her feet a little, almost immeasurably leaning forward, readying herself to jump. She absolutely had to make this work, had to get to that thermos. Once she had it...

"Hah," Valerie said, "You're always defending him, always running after him. It makes me sick."

She really looked disgusted, and for a moment glanced over her shoulder at the thermos. Sam seized the chance. Jumping forward from her position, she took two big steps, intending to dive past Valerie and grab the thermos in one go. Unfortunately, Valerie, seemingly having sensed something was not right, had already started to turn back again. She yelped in surprise and wildly, without any fancy moves, swung her arms in Sam's general direction, managing to push her away. Sam landed on the floor, about three feet away from the assorted weapons and the thermos.

Sam, although surprised at Valerie's sudden move, didn't hesitate, but immediately rolled. Good thing too, because Valerie would have been on top of her had she stayed where she was, and then it would have been all over. As it was, she wildly kicked her feet at the girl who had attempted to dive on top of her, and by accident hit her in the head.

Valerie screamed. Taken aback a little, but not so much that she remained where she was to see if her classmate was alright, Sam scrambled to her feet and again tried to get to the thermos. One step, and Valerie's hands were on her ankle, yanking her down. Sam landed on her stomach, letting out an "Umph". She dug her nails into the floor and desperately tried to prevent the stronger girl from dragging her backwards, kicking and struggling. Still, Valerie managed to pull her about two feet backwards before Sam finally managed to wrench herself free. Her knees were hurting, as were her hands, but she ignored it, frantically crawling towards the ghost arsenal.

Up until then, Valerie hadn't shown anything of her karate moves. It was more of a cat fight than a fancy karate art movie, and Sam was determined to keep it that way. One on one, playing by the 'rules', she stood no change against Valerie, but by staying close to the ground and Valerie, effectively preventing the girl from striking out, they were more than equals. Valerie, driven by anger, and Sam, driven by determination. She only managed to get a little closer before Valerie was on top of her again.

As soon as Sam felt Valerie's hands on her, she turned and brought up her knees, planting one of them firmly in the angry girl's stomach. Valerie grunted, but held on by grabbing her arms and head butting her.

"Aaah!" Sam yelled. For a moment, stars danced in front of her eyes, and she almost let go of Valerie. But before the other girl could free herself from Sam's grip, she came to her senses and tightened her hold again. Valerie, obviously also a little dazed from the head butt, hesitated. Sam kicked her shins, which with her steel nosed combat boots had to hurt, and pushed her away.

Valerie rolled and jumped to her feet. Sam rolled the other way and grabbed the first thing that came into her path: the huge bazooka. She rolled painfully over it, worked herself up on her knees and then stood up and turned towards Valerie, pointing the huge gun straight at her. Valerie, about to strike out, stopped.

They stared at each other, panting. Both looked disheveled and both had scrapes on their hands, but neither backed down. Eyes glittering, Valerie took on a defensive stance. Sam gripped the gun more tightly.

"You do know that's an ecto gun, right?" Valerie asked in a low voice.

Sam's mouth twitched, but she kept the gun firmly trained on her adversary.

"Yes. But even though you're not a ghost, you still won't like the effect of it on you." Sam couldn't seem to get the squeakiness out of her voice. She cleared her throat and glared at Valerie. Then she started edging backwards, not daring to look away from the girl who seemed to be ready to attack.

"Don't do it," Valerie hissed.

Sam's finger curled itself around the trigger. She didn't want to blast Valerie from up close, not with this cannon, but she couldn't let Danny down. Ectoblasts, though not fatal to humans, could cause serious burn wounds, not from the heat but from the cold. On the other hand, Valerie was wearing a protective suit. Maybe it would protect her from the freezing ghostly substance.

Sam stopped when her left foot hit the thermos. It fell down with a soft clunck. Keeping her eyes on Valerie, she bent down and reached for it. Valerie screamed.

Sam screamed too. The fingers of her left hand touched the thermos. She pulled the trigger with her right.

A bright green flash hit Valerie square in the chest, blasting her back all the way to the wall, where she slumped down. Sam threw the ecto cannon down, fumbled with the thermos for a moment and hit the switch. The thermos opened and a green mist spilled out of it, quickly taking form. Black hazmat suit, white gloves, green eyes. The ghost blinked.

"Danny," Sam choked.

Danny seemed disoriented for a moment. He hovered and looked around, slowly taking in his surroundings. By the wall, Valerie was stirring and opening her eyes, looking groggily at the couple, one floating and one standing. Then her eyes suddenly took on a fierce look.

"Danny, let's get out of here," Sam hissed.

Danny shook his head as if to clear it. Valerie moved her arms, aimlessly at first, but then with purpose. She pushed herself up from the floor.

"Danny!"

Pleading now. Sam really did not want to wait and see if she could beat Valerie in combat. Cursing herself for throwing the cannon aside, she stepped closer to the dazed ghost and shoved him. He flinched and turned to look at her.

"Huh?" he asked.

"We need to go," Sam said.

Valerie was on the move. Eyes crazed, a snarl on her face and hands stretched out in front of her, she was picking up speed, running towards Sam. Danny still didn't seem to understand what was going on, so Sam took on a defensive stance, balling her fists. If she did have to take on Valerie, she wasn't going down without a fight.

Just before Valerie reached her, a tingly, cold feeling went through her. Everything went hazy, then something warm passed _through_ her, and then she was flying, up, through the ceiling, up and out of the building, high up in the sky. Cold hands were holding her under her arms. Once outside, Danny let go of intangibility and picked up speed, flying towards the park that was clearly visible from up high, stretching out in the middle of the town like a green oasis. He set course towards one of the more secluded places they knew well, an open space in the trees, only reachable by an overgrown, hardly used path. A decrepit bench was standing close to the edge of the clearing. He put Sam down beside it, placed his feet on the ground and frowned.

Sam looked at him. He looked back, but didn't really seem to see her. His eyes were distant as he concentrated. Sam stepped closer and grabbed his hand, hoping that the warmth of her own hand would help him find the warmth of his human form. She didn't know if it was that that did it, but suddenly the two bright rings appeared around his waist, traveling over him, banishing his ghost form back into a cold recess somewhere in his mind. Sam shivered as the rings passed through her, but didn't let go of his hand. Danny let himself fall down on the bench, dragging Sam with him.

They sat in silence for a while. Then Sam spoke up.

"What happened?" she asked.

Danny absentmindedly stroked her hand. "I got careless," he confessed, "And I was tired. All those ghosts... she caught me when I was sweeping up the remains of Skulker's suit."

Suddenly he seemed to become aware of what he was doing, because he let go of her hand. A blush crept on his face and he looked away. Then he shivered.

"How long... what day is it?" he asked.

"Thursday," Sam said, "Your parents are coming home tonight."

Danny jumped up. "Thursday?! But I was captured on Tuesday... I was in that thing for two whole days?"

Sam nodded. "You didn't know?" she asked.

Slowly, he sat down again and shook his head. "It's kind of hard to tell time when you're in that thing." he said, "But I could have sworn..."

His eyes glazed for a moment, and Sam thought she saw a faint green glow coming from them, but then it was gone. "What?" she asked when he didn't say anything, "Wat were you going to say?"

He shook his head. "I don't know," he said, "It was strange. You sort of... lose yourself in there. I couldn't take form, and somehow... it's like one of those nightmares, where you're screaming only you can't make a sound."

He leaned back, placed his arms on the back of the bench and closed his eyes. "It's nice to be out in the sun again," he said.

Sam leaned back too and scooted a little closer to him, trying not to be obvious about it. The scolding she had had in mind was forgotten. She was just very happy he was back.

"Were you fighting Valerie?" Danny asked.

"Yeah," Sam said.

"Over me?"

Sam said nothing. Danny opened one eye and looked at her, but her face remained impassive. He closed it again.

"Cool," was all he said.


End file.
